Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Mending and repairs... raking later...

I have a button to replace on my shooting jacket, and I get the Army sewing kit out, thread a needle, and knot the end and start. I notice that they save a lot of money by having only the least amount of thread holding the buttons. Multiply by hundreds and it does add up. I have been reading about the Marines in WWII, Pacific. I don't think I recommend joining the Marines, their officers have inflated opinions of themselves - but maybe all officers have that except the really good ones. But, aside from the French Foreign the Marines will go to the sound of the guns first.

I started off with Robert Leckcie in his book, Helmet for my Pillow: from Parris Island to the Pacific. I like it, it does read like a poem, or a song that you can't get out of your head. I really liked that he was writing about it as a participant, not an observer, a historian, a reporter and definitely not an entertainer. When he said he didn't know where he was, I could relate to that, I loved the nick names of the officers he served under - he had some good ones. Then I moved on to With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa, by E. B. Sledge. Read them in that order, or go watch reality shows about living in the jungle - nah, read them.